GETTING EVEN WITH DAD
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1994 Michael John Legeros
Directed by Howard Deutch
Written by Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein
Cast Macaulay Culkin, Ted Danson, Glenne Headly, Saul Rubinek,
and Gailard Sartain
MPAA Rating PG
Running Time 108 Minutes
==
"You dating yet?"
"I'm 11."
- Danson & Culkin
There's one really good scene in GETTING EVEN WITH DAD, the failed father-and-son frolic starring odd couple Ted Danson and Macaulay Culkin. Danson plays Ray, a robber whose son (Culkin) stashed the stash of dad's last haul. Timmy will tell, but on one condition: if father collects then son ain't staying. (He knows the cops are close and doesn't want dad to disappear. He'd rather go back and live with his aunt.)
Said scene unfolds at a bus station. Ray has just placed his boy on a bus and, walking away, is trying to decide if he *really* wants the cash over the kid. The cops are watching, of course, and they'll round-up Ray the moment he unlocks the locker containing the cache.
The scene is great: Danson steps from the bus, stops, and thinks. He looks back, pauses, and keeps walking. Cut to Culkin, looking sad. Cut back to Danson, stopped again. Thinking. All while the cops--and the audience--are watching.
Forget the rest of the film-- this is one of those great, dopey Hollywood moments when a character comes to life right before our eyes. We swoon to these simple emotions, shamelessly holding our breath as we wait for Ray's decision. Will he? Won't he? It's great schmaltz and the very reason we go to the movies.
Too bad that most of the audience will have either *left* or fallen asleep by this time.
Hardly *anything* is worth watching in the first hour of GETTING EVEN WITH DAD. Danson is sincere and that's about it. His glued-on ponytail is more interesting than co-star Culkin, though, who sleepwalks through his scenes.
Sartain and Rubinek are mildly amusing as Ray's unaccomplished accomplices. (One inspired moment has Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber trying to rob a collection box. Stay awake and hear Sartain yell "Wow! Nun!" to great effect.) Glenne Headly is the strangest find--a rookie cop who pathetically falls for Danson. Ugh.
Forget either the script or the direction. Here's a film that features two, count 'em two, musical montages *and* Macaulay Culkin doing bad lipsynch. Shudder. (Maybe the title is a secret stab at Kit Culkin, who must be wondering why he consented to this slop.)
The saving grace is that GETTING EVEN WITH DAD delivers a well-intentioned message, as best exemplified in the aforementioned scene. Too bad the film sucks.
Grade: D+
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